One Year Anniversary

As of today, we have officially been in Finland for a year. :)

Things are winding down: I took care of what I needed from school, school ended, summer started (hallelujah!), and we went to Youth Conference (Mom, Jonathan, and me), and now we're chilling.

Youth Conference was amazing! I'm so happy that I was able to go with my amigos here in Finland. :)

Some memorable moments: the disco the first night, painting my rock, the dance practice, the formal dance, sleeping on the floor...

Rocks! :) We were allowed to paint them however we wanted to, but were strongly "encouraged" to paint them as lions.... I thought it'd be cute, but my lion, didn't exactly turn out to be a lion after all... And there Pihla and I are showing our little creatures off. Focus on the rocks, not our faces... we weren't ready for the picture. ;)

Ah! It feels strange to think that we're leaving Finland, but I'm excited to go home! If only I could take my new buddies with me. :P

So, for the next two weeks, I will take in as much Jyväskylä to last me until we come back!

Mallorca

Spain! I've been putting off writing about it... I just didn't want it to end. :(

We left Thursday April 29 (it was snowing here in Jyväskylä), took a plane to Berlin, and from there to Mallorca. ...we had a few problems in Berlin, so we didn't arrive in Mallorca until later than planned.

Friday, Jonathan and I walked the streets of Palma for a few hours, took the train instead of the metro, so we got lost, but finally made it to the university to meet up with Dad, and Maria, who we stayed with. We went to a buffet the college students were in charge of, and then we went to pick up Joey, Maria's 11-year-old son, and we walked along the harbor. Then we drove back to their house to pick up Gabriel Sr, and Jr. and we drove to a castle. When we went back to their house, we ate dinner, and the four of us kids played Clue (which I won) and we went to bed.

Saturday, we had a wonderful breakfast, made sandwiches and headed for the mountains. We first stopped on one mountain, about halfway from the house to where we were going, so that we could see the mountains we were going to visit, but it was so foggy, that we couldn't see them. :) So we kept driving, winding back and forth along the road in the mountains, and we made it to the lighthouse. The view was incredible! The ocean came up, and met these cliffs and mountains, and the water was so blue, it was gorgeous! We got back in the cars, and started driving back through the mountains, stopping at various places to get out, explore, and take pictures. Then, we drove down the mountains, to find a place to eat our lunches. We settled for the beach. :) There were houses right next to it, the Mediterranean Sea, and cafes, and you could see boats floating around. (I wouldn't mind living there.) Ah! What a sight! When we were done eating, we drove to see the caves, and the lovely stalactites and stalagmites. :)

We went back to their house, and we kids played Hotels, then ate, then went back to the game until 11 pm, when our parents said we had to go to sleep... so we had to end the game (which I also won...).

Sunday morning, we woke up pretty early, ate breakfast, said our goodbyes, and headed to the airport with the Ensaïmada we were instructed to take to Mom, and my sisters. We made it to Jyväskylä in time to watch the second half of X Factor. :)

It was such a great trip, and I'm so glad that I was able to go to spain, and that, for my first time to spain, I was able to go with my brother and dad, to visit Maria and her family! :) Now, I'm looking forward to my next trip to spain... :)

(ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl)

The airports in Finland opened yesterday for a few hours.

This morning, I heard they were opened again, then I learned that they were closed this afternoon.

This is all thanks to the volcano Eyjafjallajokull (a lovely name, if I do say so myself). We're now waiting to see what happens with the volcano Katla (much easier to pronounce). Hopefully, the airports will be open the 29th, so that we can still go to Spain, but if not, that they will be open in the summer so we can go home. I'm positive they will be, but I've heard some others say otherwise... and, of course, that keeps me calm. :/ oh dear.

Ah, completely stressed. :/

Happy Wednesday!

Centerpieces

Exciting news!!! My dearest cousin Jen is getting married!! <3 Everyone is ecstatic, probably Jen the most. And she has asked me to be apart of her bridal party, and to help out. So, my first task was to find a centerpiece. Me, as overeager as I was, got right to it, after receiving the "mission" this morning, and this is what I've found.
Okay, we'll start with this one. I think it's a simple centerpiece, but maybe too tall?But, by putting something around it would make it look smaller, and more "apart" of the table. And, my mother thought that if the lower part were hollow, that it could be filled with glass rocks, or petals, or something else just as lovely. :)
This is the first picture I found, and I thought it was gorgeous, but with only this, the table would look bare. So, sprinkle some lovely petals. Downside to this: it only has pink, but the colors could easily be exchanged for others.
Depending on what kind of tables are going to be at the reception, this setup has the brown, matching the tuxes, the pink, and the cream. (Also, the long wooden block doesn't have to be there...? or! a round wooden block. How lovely, just the thought of it. ;) )
This one has a bit more of a pop! to it color-wise... and the tree bark around the glass, I think it has some sort of purpose to it... but I would exchange it for a brown ribbon to be more "elegant."
Ignoring the other two, the pink and white roses are stunning in the glass vase and stones. :) Love it!
This is just a pretty picture I found!

This, I am not particularly a fan of, considering the flowers, but I wanted to show you how they used the mirror for a base, and the candles stationed at the corners, then the glass marble/stone/rock thingies spread out to cover a greater portion of the table... (but, not too far. We don't want little kids nibbling on those good-looking rocks.)

Point to Finland

When I last posted, the score stood at: America-176 , Finland-0

I am, of course happy--thrilled, in fact-- to report that since then, I have experienced the outside ice skating rink down the street. Point to Finland.

Over the past--has it been four months I've gone without posting?--well, in that time, we've celebrated several holidays, namely: New Year's, Valentine's Day, Kimmi's Birthday, Matilda's Birthday, April Fool's Day, General Conference Weekend, and Easter. :)

New Year's was spent at a Youth Conference, and that was an experience.

Valentine's Day, or "ystävänpäivä" (friend's day) was on a Sunday. Lovely!

Kimmi's Birthday-- happy birthday dearest kimmi!! You 16-year-old you!!

Matilda's Birthday:

This pic. is my favorite from my birthday!! The card is from my mummi (finnish grandmother), and I absolutely love it!! <3

April Fool's Day--...well, nothing really happened, except-haha! I did get merinda!!

-Merinda was staring at me with really wide eyes, and I told her, "Merinda, if you keep staring like that, the blood vessels in your eyes will explode, and your eyes will turn red." Then I proceeded to walk out of the kitchen. Merinda was terrified, and followed me. "REALLY?! But what about the people who do staring contests?!!!!?" hahaha.. oh, dear. That was good.

General Conference was wonderful! Just inspiring, and incredible! Loved it!

Easter--well, the second day of General Conference was on Easter, so we didn't have anything until 3. In the morning, we had an easter egg scavenger hunt. The kids (or, Jonathan, and Jusa) found the candy in the attic, in our suitcases.

One of the "easter foods" in finland is Mämmi. :) AH! How I love mämmi! It's hilarious since you ask other people, even Finns, and they'll tell you that they don't like it.

:) This picture was taken after I had been playing floorball, so I was all sweaty, and I decided to eat some mämmi, and my mom informed me that we didn't have any pictures of anyone eating the stuff, so I was the lucky guinea pig. :)

That pretty much brings you up to date on ...some things. :D

Next week is test week, and that will be a blast. ;)

Christmas Cometh Caroling

:) Well, hello everybody! :)

Haha, I don't know if people still read this, since I haven't updated in... well, a really long time. But, just so that I'm satisfied with myself at the end of the year, I'll write a new post. :)

It's the end of another term: this week is finals. Lucky me, I only have a math final tomorrow, and that's it, then Christmas Break! Yay!

I'm thinking of taking a swedish class next term, just so that I might be able to understand a little of what everyone is saying when they switch languages on me. :P blah. I'll also be taking two spanish classes (it was my mom's idea.. thanks, mom). I'll continue with math, yipee. Let's see. I'm going to see if I can take another art class. Love art. A+++++. :D

Other than school, I'm just really excited for Christmas. We'll be spending a few days in Helsinki with the rest of the fam. My grandmother rented a photo studio, therefore.. we will have a professional family photo. The colors are red, and a creamy white, and we all have to wear jeans. It'll be adorable.

Last Saturday, Merinda and I walked to a nearby park, and took some fabulous winter pictures.

We had a Christmas concert at church last Sunday, where I played in a trio of "Carol of the Bells". It was fantastic. Merinda played the recorder to Silent Night, and Jonathan sang "Holy Night" and "Homeless", as a solo, then "Homeless" with an a cappella group.

Yesterday, no school, so I spent a few hours at the shopping center, then I went to pick up Mikaela from school, in the -20*C (-4*F) Let's just say, that I was REALLY REALLY COLD!!

That's how I'm doing in this cold country. Hope all of you are having a wonderful winter!!

October Boos

Well... October.. new month. This blogging is harder than you might think. ;)

School continues, though this week, we enjoy Fall Break.

I've stayed mostly in Jyväskylä, except for last weekend, when I went with my dearest mother to Helsinki. We went to this noodle restaurant with my aunt, then we saw Julie and Julia. It was ... cute. I think it could've been better, or maybe it's just not completely my type of movie.

We came back on Sunday.

Yesterday, I went with my sister to Halonen, a store, and we tried on a bunch of clothes, then we found a gift for her friend. Today, I went to a friend's house to take pictures for the slideshow for New Year's Conference. We got quite a few pictures taken... but it took quite a while for the Young Women's leader to approve of positions, expressions, and so on. :)

Now, we're back home, and I'm on the computer... again.

I have to--no, no, I get to plan a Halloween Party for the Young women and men. yay me.

I just wish that I could get my hands on some really good books--in English. I was only able to bring 5 books with me, and now I'm really missing my collection I had to leave at home. :(

I've been listening to EFY songs on youtube, and I found this one that I really like. It's called "More." If you have time, you should youtube it. Ah. Love it.

... and that's about it. I don't have much to tell. I'd rather hear what you guys have been up to. Have a great day!